


(please don't) Take my Sunshine away

by Canadiantardis



Series: Cana's Bad Things Happen Bingo [11]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, But do you get to know how long of a time skip? no, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Healing Pod Malfunction, It's the closest one to what actually happens really, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Non-Consensual Drug Use, One Shot, Prisoner Hunk (Voltron), Prisoner of War, Time Skips, Unconsciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24932980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: “Sleep well, Paladin. We’ll meet again soon.” The Captain said, and Hunk tried to make some sort of threatening noise, but it came out raspy and his vision swam. If he hadn’t already been facedown on the floor, he would have fallen over.“Pack up! Leave all non-essential behind, we’re...” The voices no longer sounded close, but as if Hunk had gone into a tunnel heading further and further away from the Galra, until he heard nothing at all.
Relationships: Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk & Lance (Voltron)
Series: Cana's Bad Things Happen Bingo [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1674190
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	(please don't) Take my Sunshine away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jessieboo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jessieboo/gifts).



> I knew I wanted to write the prompt "Healing Pod Malfunction" with some Voltron characters, but couldn't decide who. So I asked my bestie and she suggested Hunk. Somehow this went from being one BTHB prompt to being two!!
> 
> Be on the lookout for the next One-shot since it shall be a direct sequel to this~

It had been a routine mission, really. Get rid of the Galra ship as Voltron, then take out the stragglers or drive them out of the planet they were controlling either in their Lions or on foot.

“Whatcha seeing, Pidge?” Hunk asked as he flew Yellow over a city, sweeping over it for any remaining Galra enemies. “We clear or are there more?”

“It looks pretty clear, but I’m picking up a faint signal along the edges of the main cities.” The youngest Paladin answered through the communications system. “They’re kinda spread out. Should we group together and flush them off the planet one by one, or should we take the individual groups by ourselves?”

“We shouldn’t let them have time to regroup into one larger group.” Shiro advised. “If anyone needs help, we’ll come.”

“Got it.” The others affirmed, and Pidge told each of them where the signals were coming from in proximity to their Lions’ locations.

Hunk looked over his location, and saw it was by the cave system, the entrance much too small for Yellow to fit through. After a quick check-in to tell the others he would be on foot, he had Yellow sit a fair distance from the entrance of the caves and proceeded from there himself, readying his bayard into its blaster cannon form as he approached.

It took no time at all to find the camp of remaining Galra soldiers and their robot sentries. Hunk managed to get the jump on most of them, getting about a quarter without return fire before they got wise and retaliated.

The one disadvantage to having a cannon as one’s main weapon was it was practically useless against close-combat attacks, and it seemed the Galra were aware of this fact. All too soon, Hunk had to drop the blaster cannon and raise his shield, dodging blows and trying to get some breathing room. It wasn’t rare for this sort of situation to happen, but it was uncommon for him to be without one of the others who could work in close quarters. It was frustrating, but he wasn’t about to give up. He heard how Lance and Allura were making quick work of the fringes of their cities, getting the Galra to flee with their tails tucked between their legs, and were on their way to check on Pidge and him, getting confirmation from Shiro that he was doing fine by himself.

Distracted by the conversation in his helmet, Hunk failed to catch the flash of a blaster until the shot hit him full on the upper arm, spinning him around and dropping his shield just as a whole volley came at him. Luckily for him, only a couple more shots actually hit as he dropped with a shout of pain, his vision hazy.

Hands held him down flat on his stomach, his helmet pushed into the hard stone floor, and he cried out when the front began to crack into spider web designs, threatening to shatter. He struggled against the hold, trying to throw off whatever was holding his head down but couldn’t find good leverage.

“Guys!” He shouted, hoping that despite the cracking of the helmet, it was still working and the others could hear him.

“The others will be here soon, Captain.” A male Galra spoke directly above Hunk. Probably the one holding his head down. “What should we do with the Yellow Paladin?”

“Find a crack in the armour, easiest place to get to the Paladin’s skin.” Another Galra, female by the sounds of it, ordered, approaching Hunk’s forcibly prone form. “We won’t have enough time to make him a hostage yet.”

“What are we-” The first Galra started but the Captain interrupted.

“I’ll explain when we don’t have ears on us, have you found a spot?”

“Yes, Captain, here.” Hunk struggled as his body was moved slightly, and he felt the cool air hit the nape of his neck before something pinched his skin.

“Sleep well, Paladin. We’ll meet again soon.” The Captain said, and Hunk tried to make some sort of threatening noise, but it came out raspy and his vision swam. If he hadn’t already been facedown on the floor, he would have fallen over.

“Pack up! Leave all non-essential behind, we’re...” The voices no longer sounded close, but as if Hunk had gone into a tunnel heading further and further away from the Galra, until he heard nothing at all.

xXx xXx

Lance was the first to get to Hunk’s location, practically begging Red to push faster and faster after they had heard silence from their friend’s end, before quiet, scarily quiet laboured breaths were all that was heard.

He booked it from Red, searching for the familiar heat signature through his visor. It didn’t take too long before he found Hunk’s body, laying face first by the entrance of one of the caves, blaster marks darkening the bright yellow and white of the suit, a small distance away from where the Lions could reach.

“Hunk!” He shouted, sliding on his knees to his friend’s side and tried rolling him over, but found he was all deadweight. With a strong pull, he rolled Hunk over to his back, and checked all over, his heart in his throat when he saw the spider web fractures across the front of his helmet, and the pinched, pained expression behind it, eyes shut tight and lips parted to pant. “Hunk, buddy, come on. Wake up.”

“Is he okay? What’s going on?” Pidge asked over the comms, worry lacing her tone ever so slightly.

“I don’t… _Hunk!”_ Lance shook his friend but it was as if he were dead to the world around him. If not for the laboured breathing, and the rise and fall of his chest, he could have believed Hunk was really gone for good. “Hunk, buddy, wake up!”

“Get him back to the Castle, Lance. _Now.”_ Shiro ordered.

It took some time. Lance was strong, after training for so long, but he still couldn’t just lift Hunk up like he weighed nothing.

He put Hunk in the cargo area of Red, then had Yellow follow them back to the Castle, which was hanging back just out of the planet’s gravitational pull. As they made their way to the hangars, Lance listened to the others speak and informed Coran about the situation, calling for a cryopod for any injuries the Yellow Paladin may have sustained. By the time Lance had gotten Hunk out of the Red Lion with Coran’s help, they heard that the others had managed to drive out the remaining Galra and all but Shiro was heading back to the Castle - Shiro was heading to the capital city to reassure the population that they were safe again.

“What happened to him?” Coran asked as they got Hunk onto a floating stretcher, hurrying him down the halls towards the infirmary.

“I don’t know.” Lance shook his head, staring at his friend and willing him to wake up, something he had been doing since finding him facedown in the cave. “He was attacked by the Galra, and I can’t get him to wake up.”

“We’ll see if we can find anything through the scans, then.” The alien advisor said, and the two didn’t speak until they reached the door to the infirmary.

“Okay, get him out of his armour and suit, it’ll just make him uncomfortable.” Coran said, leaving the stretcher and the teens to pull up a pod, hauling over to a wall and grabbing a suit that, long ago, Lance had had to wear when the ship had been infiltrated by the decoy Rover. “Put him in this, I’ll help once I get a pod up and ready.”

“Right.” Lance nodded and worked as quickly as he could, pulling off the cracked helmet first.

A thin sheen of sweat coated Hunk’s forehead, the normally smooth skin wrinkled with pinched eyebrows. It looked more like he was having a bad nightmare he just couldn’t escape from. Lance hated the sight, his chest aching that he could do nothing to help his closest friend.

“You’ll be okay, man.” He muttered to himself, unsure if Hunk was even able to hear him, as he took off the bulky yellow and white armour piece by piece. He wasn’t sure if he was saying it for his own sake, or for Hunk. “You’ll be alright. You’ve gotta be, dude.”

Coran hurried over when Lance had gotten all the armour pieces off, and had just started unzipping the under-armour. Together, they wrestled the unconscious teen out of the black suit and into the thinner, gray one that could monitor him better in the cryopod. It didn’t take all that long, and they were careful with the heavier teen.

They heard the door quietly open before more hands helped hold Hunk up as they slipped him into the suit and zipped him up. As a group now, they all helped shuffle him into the pod, everyone breathing almost as heavily as Hunk was before the pod lit up and the alien glass/barrier stuff closed him in.

“He should be okay in a quintant or so.” Coran told the group - Lance realized it had been Allura and Pidge who came to help - before he went about checking the monitors that popped up around the pod, Pidge checking under his arm.

It was quiet in the room for a moment before Pidge shifted and pointed to something on the holo-monitors. “Hey, Coran? What’s this supposed to mean?”

“Hm?” Coran hummed, turning to look at it, and Lance peered over Pidge’s head. “What’s-”

Just as he spoke, the cryopod’s light went out. It looked like someone had blacked out the entire interior, including Hunk himself, and the pod sunk down.

“Hunk!”

xXx xXx

The sense of hearing came back first. Slow, deep breaths reached his ears before he realized it was his own breathing echoing back at him, like he was in a confined space.

A soft hissing sound came next before his sense of gravity returned, as if he had been floating for a long time and only now came back to the ground.

He opened his eyes, blinking owlishly as he made out familiar cream walls in the distance, his mind sluggishly inputting where he was. _The Castle of Lions._

It took some time, but Hunk managed to piece together what must have happened, and he stumbled out of the cryopod, a strong pair of arms reaching out to catch him before he face planted. He must have been brought back by the others and healed up. He turned his head to smile and thank whoever had caught him when he froze. The face was not someone familiar.

Coarse-looking fur covered a smirking face of an older Galra woman, her eyes a deep, solid gold that seemed amused by Hunk’s confusion. He felt the hands grip his arms tightly, trapping him in her embrace and he was still too disoriented to attempt to fight back.

“It’s lovely to see you again, little Paladin.” Her voice was familiar. It had been the last voice he had heard before he had been knocked out by whatever they had put in him, and he felt himself go pale.

“Wh-”

“I really must thank you.” The Captain continued, flashing sharp teeth at him in the form of a threatening smile, and loosened her hold on him, only for more hands to grab and restrain him from behind. “I wouldn’t have been able to take the ship if not for you.”

“What are you talking about?” Hunk demanded. He just needed some more time, and some sort of explanation.  _ Why were they in the Castle of Lions? How did the Galra get in? Where were the others? _

The Captain flashed another threatening smile and chuckled. “A warm body is the perfect place to hold a nasty little nanovirus. As soon as the body is put into a cryopod and freezes, they activate and shut down all the security measures.”

Hunk blinked at the woman, practically hearing his own wheels turning in his head as he took in the information. “What happened to the others?”

“Oh, we weren’t looking for more prisoners. Don’t worry.” Her eyes crinkled in amusement. It seemed she was being purposefully vague, though it sounded like either they were alive, or they were killed during the invasion of the ship. “You should be enough for the new emperor.”

_ New? _ Hunk thought hard. He remembered the ceremony the Galra had in deciding a new leader, the Kral Zera, but the new emperor had been Lotor. _He was on their side of the war, wasn’t he? He wanted the tyranny to end. Work together with the planets the Galra inhabit rather than rule with an iron fist like Zarkon had._ It made no sense that Lotor would want Hunk as a prisoner if he had been allied with Voltron before.

“Take him to one of the refurbished cells. Keep a constant watch until we reach the main cruiser, it shouldn’t be too far now.” She ordered, and Hunk stumbled over his feet as he was pushed forward, his arms still held uncomfortably behind his back.

He walked forward, still in shock and trying to understand what he had been told. _How long had he been in the pod? Had Lotor been killed? Had he betrayed the others? What was happening?_ Nothing was making sense.

He was pushed along by the sentry robots the Galra seemed very fond of, down several halls that were now crawling with Galra soldiers. He tested the grip of the robots and found they were just under uncomfortably tight, but not bone-crushing tight, and found himself going by the bedrooms that had been Pidge, Lance, and Keith’s rooms before they stopped at one further down the hall. Hunk saw there was now a handprint scanner connected to the door, and only once the sentry hovered its hand over it did the door open.

The room inside was bare. There was the bed with the thin blanket and single pillow, but there was nothing else there. It didn’t look too different from how the rooms always looked, other than the new scanner outside the room.

Hunk was pushed in and stumbled to his hands and knees, turning around to see the door slide shut in front of him. He scrambled to his feet and pounded on the door, looking everywhere for some way to maybe pry it open, or another way to get out. He saw a vent, above the bed, but it was much too narrow for him. He wouldn’t be able to get out that way.

He sighed, sitting on the bed and rubbed his temples. He had a sinking feeling he had been asleep for a lot longer than he should have been. He just hoped he’d get some kinds of answers soon, worried about the somehow new world he found himself in.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [ LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:  
> Feedback
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
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> 

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